Ramanagaram: In a clear signal to his critics and detractors, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said, "Lack of experience in governance is our strength; do not assume that the Janata Dal (Secular)-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition Government cannot deliver just because we have never held office."

Mr. Kumaraswamy was speaking after launching the computerised Akshaya ration card for families living below the poverty line at Ramanagaram in Bangalore Rural district, his Assembly constituency. The Chief Minister also used the platform to caution the industry sector against taking the Government lightly.

"In my interactions with them, I understood that industry representatives are selfish. When the Government gives them land and incentives they accept it as a matter of right, but when farmers or the poor in the State get small incentives it is called vote-bank politics," he said.

Mr. Kumaraswamy said the four per cent interest on farm loans was an empathic response to a long-felt need of farmers and not the largesse of an inexperienced Government. The Government had just released Rs. 4 crore to bail out tomato growers who were facing a glut, and a price of Rs. 2.50 a kg had been fixed. The Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma scheme was designed to address female infanticide and the Akshaya scheme was the culmination of a dream of his father, H.D. Deve Gowda, who had made a commitment to provide rice at Rs. 3 a kg to the poor, Mr. Kumaraswamy said.

About food and civil supplies, Mr Kumaraswamy said that during the tenure of Mahadev Prasad as Minister, the Government had conducted a re-survey for the identification of families living below the poverty line, and the process of issuing computerised ration cards to them had just begun. Till September 2006, temporary cards would be issued, and the permanent cards with fingerprint identification would be issued later.

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